Grandview, Mo. February 27, 1912
Dear Bessie:
There. I got it that time without any scratches whatever. It really doesn't look so well as the other but if you like it best that way why that way goes. It sounds better though.
I had the pleasure of escorting Nellie to the airline and Ethel to Maywood the other morning. They saw us going to church alright and joshed me considerably about spending a weekend in town. But it put them in a better humor than they had been when I stayed Sunday night with them. Ethel and I were on our usual footing again but Nellie will have to be extra good to me yet before I forget her nice remarks.
Did you have a good time at Miss Nellie's? I am sure you did though. I am scheduled to appear in Belton this evening as assistant to the Deputy Grand Master. I am going to begin forgetting from now on. The calls are coming too thick entirely. I have to go to Freeman on Saturday and Friday our own session comes off. That dispenses with three nights on which I receive nothing but hot air and get my hatband sprung. I am hoping that the said hatband will soon reach its greatest diameter, in which case I can stay home on at least every third evening. I am hoping to be in town tomorrow, in which case I shall call you up and if you feel inclined, we can go to a show. I have forgotten how to spell the word for afternoon performance. I shall have to go out to my Colgan cousins in the evening and discuss Wedding Marches and such things. Of course Myra says she won't need to worry about such a thing until June or September but she appears very anxious that I know the march right away quick. The cousins are all going to chip in and buy her some silver. I think it would be better to do that than for each of us to give her something useless, don't you? My working days are slowly and surely approaching. Vivian moves on Friday and the following Wednesday it is goodbye hired men. Then Lent sets in for a year and a day with Harry. But work is the only way I see to arrive at conclusions. This thing of sitting down and waiting for plutocratic relatives to decease and then getting left doesn't go with much. I intend making my own way if it takes ten years, which sounds like Mrs. E.D.E.N. Southworth or Mary Jane Holmes. Some Gilliss expressions are good anyway aren't they? Mary Jane Holmes was my grandmother's name before she married a Truman but she was no kin to the famous one. A person would feel better and could wear a much larger hat if he made his own change than he could if someone gave it to him. If we can just settle our lawsuit this farm will produce about six or seven thousand a year clear and that means about three more than that in town. Such things though take bushels of time and barrels of money. Such things make awful dry letters too but I am hoping that when the seven thousand stage is reached I can persuade you to help spend my half of it. Our dear relatives may take the whole works yet and then we'll have to begin again. That sure would be awful, but I guess we'd live through it.
Don't forget a grand opera some night next week. How would you like to see the Orpheum Road Show in the afternoon and then go to dinner somewhere and then go to the Shubert? We could end up the season in one big splash for there is no telling when I'll get to a show after the sixth of March.
I don't suppose Miss Andrews would care if you ditched her for one afternoon and evening, would she?
I hope to see you tomorrow but if I don't you'll know I couldn't come in until four o'clock.
You owe me a letter. When I send you Montgomery Ward's catalogue you'll owe me a 1,250 page one.
Sincerely, Harry